Osteoporosis Symptoms

Osteoporosis may have no symptoms to extreme pain and immobility

Research evidence shows that often diagnosis is only made after multiple fractures and treatment is delayed, incomplete, with the sub optimal treatment options or of wrong duration.

Osteoporosis is silent until a fracture occurs. In the UK there are more than 300,000 osteoporosis fractures every year, with more than 1100 deaths every month (National Osteoporosis Society); with survivors experience ongoing pain and restricted activities.

Signs and symptoms in adults

There typically are no symptoms in the early stages of bone loss. But once bones have been weakened by osteoporosis, you may have signs and symptoms that include:

Your bones are in a constant state of renewal — new bone is made and old bone is broken down. When young, your body makes new bone faster than it breaks down old bone and your bone mass increases. Most people reach their peak bone mass by their early 30s. With age, bone mass is lost faster than it is created.

How likely you are to develop osteoporosis depends partly on how much bone mass you attained in your youth. The higher your peak bone mass, the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis as you age.